Nashville Pussy's Rolling Party Rolls and Parties!

The fantastically named band Nashville Pussy likes to be on tour. So much so that they must have spent at least twice as many nights on the road as they have at home since they began playing their dirty, bluesy rock back in 1996. Out on their most recent tour, the “Parental Advisory Tour,” along with comedy rock/metal outfits Green Jello and Psychostick, Nashville Pussy is bringing their rolling party to a club near you! And if you like rock and booze, or if you like just one of those things, you want to see this show really bad.

Nashville Pussy came out on stage to little fanfare, but from the first booze-soaked chords they had the audience enthralled with their combination of conviction and three-sheets-to-the-wind attitude. Flanked by the saucy Karen Cuda (bass) and wild-woman Ruyter Suys (lead guitar), Blaine Cartwright (guitar and vocals) commanded the stage like a drunk Eisenhower. His gravelly vocal melodies were backed by Cuda and Suys and created a unique effect – the singing wasn’t good in the classical sense, but it sure was great.

Ripping off tune after tune after tune, Nashville Pussy just didn’t stop. Brief comments and song introductions gave the gathered drinkers mere seconds to rest before the next set of burly chords were fired off. We did find out, however, that Nashville Pussy likes the food in Chicago. Kudos to the on-site mix and production staff at Reggie’s Rock Club too – frequently nowadays the live mix is so muddled bands sound like blenders. But the guys on the board were on it all night; each instrument was clear as a bell, making the music that much more enjoyable.

The audience was clearly having a great time, and almost as much fun as Nashville Pussy themselves. There were lots of really drunk folks, and a fair amount of mooning, grabbing, flirting and flashing. And as far as everyone else was concerned, that was totally cool. The concert just kept on getting better and better as both the band and the crowd got more and more lubed up. Nashville Pussy probably could have played all night, but they had to stop so they could join the rest of us and get totally hammered too.

Green Jello: Now officially known as “Green Jelly” due to legal action by the jiggly food of the same name, the self-proclaimed “shittiest band in the world” was a lot of fun. Starting off with crazy masks and continuing all the way through the show with crazy covers and costumes, Green Jello was a hoot from front to back. They even played a cover of Rob Zombie’s “Dragula” that was about Count Chocula, complete with full Count Chocula costume! The last song about three little pigs had an interlude where a man with a shaved head and no pants exhorted the crowd to chant “Green Jello Sucks!” over and over while about 20 audience members went nuts onstage with pig dolls and other wacky things. Certainly weird, but also very, very fun.Green Jello MySpaceA Little Taste of Green Jello

The Fabulous Miss Wendy: Is there anything hotter than the cutest chick in your high school wailing away on a huge guitar while wearing suuuuuuper low cut jeans? Answer: no, there is nothing hotter. Miss Wendy came out and ran through a handful of grunge/punk/chick rock songs, kind of like a better, younger, and slightly angrier Veruca Salt. But nobody really cared how good she was on the guitar (she was pretty good!), as the music was merely a soundtrack to our fantasies. (Miss Wendy, her bassist and her drummer also made three-fifths of Green Jello’s band.)Miss Wendy’s MySpaceCheck out her videos on YouTube

Psychostick: Your correspondent unfortunately did not arrive at the venue in time to take in comedy metal band Psychostick’s show. But word on the street is that they were fantastic, and funny.Find out what I missed at Psychostick.com

Joel is indebted to his high school friend Joe B. for giving him "Kill 'Em All," "Ride the Lightning" and "Master of Puppets" for his 16th birthday. Now that he works from home for his day job at a small ad agency in Chicago, he can play those albums, and Meshuggah, as much as he wants.